TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Ex-Supreme Court official arrested for bribery over Surabaya murder acquittal
Zarof Ricar, a retired Supreme Court high-ranking official, allegedly asked for at least Rp 5 billion (US$318,570) from the lawyer of a former lawmaker's son Gregorius Ronald Tannur, in exchange for upholding the defendant's acquittal in a murder case occurring in Surabaya, East Java in 2023.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
High court scandal: Former Supreme Court high-ranking official Zarof Ricar (center) walks to a prisoner transport van following an interrogation at the Attorney General's Office (AGO) building in Jakarta on Oct. 25. Investigators have named him as a suspect in a bribery case pertaining to the acquittal of a former lawmaker's son, Gregorius Ronald Tannur, in a murder case, as well as other cases handled in the Supreme Court. (Antara/Asprilla Dwi Adha)
I
nvestigators with the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) arrested a former high-ranking Supreme Court official as a suspect in a bribery case related to the acquittal of a lawmaker’s son in a high-profile murder case in Surabaya, East Java, occurring last year.
On Friday, investigators named Zarof Ricar, former head of the Supreme Court’s legal and justice research and development agency, a suspect in the case after arresting him in Bali on Thursday evening. Zarof retired from the Supreme Court in 2022.
Zarof is suspected of accepting bribes from Lisa Rahmat, a lawyer representing defendant Gregorius Ronald Tannur in the murder case, in exchange for a Supreme Court justice ruling in favor of her client in the case.
“Lisa asked Zarof to make justices at the Supreme Court uphold the lower court ruling that cleared Ronald of all charges,” said Abdul Qohar, investigations director at the office of the assistant attorney general for extraordinary crimes, during a press briefing in Jakarta on Friday evening.
He added that the lawyer would pay Rp 1 billion (US$63,714) to Zarof and an additional Rp 5 billion to be given to the justices handling the appeal. Lisa gave the money in foreign currency worth Rp 5 billion as per the retired official’s request, who then kept the money in a safe in his house in Jakarta.
Read also: Supreme Court suspends judges arrested over Surabaya murder acquittal
Aside from Ronald’s case, the AGO also suspected Zarof of accepting bribes for other cases during his tenure at the Supreme Court between 2012 and 2022. Over 10 years he has allegedly accepted gratuities amounting to Rp 920 billion and around 51 kilograms of gold.
